VAPT Explained: Vulnerability & Pentesting

In today’s cyber warzone, organizations face constant threats. To stay protected, they rely on VAPT - a combination of Vulnerability Assessment (VA) and Penetration Testing (PT).

VAPT helps companies identify weaknesses, simulate hacker attacks, and strengthen defenses before real attackers strike.

Vulnerability Assessment (VA) ​

Goal: Identify and prioritize weaknesses in systems.
Method: Automated scanning + manual analysis.
Tools: Nessus, OpenVAS, Qualys, Nexpose.
Output: A list of vulnerabilities categorized by severity - Low, Medium, High, Critical.

Example ​

Your e-commerce site runs an old PHP version with a known Remote Code Execution (RCE) flaw. The VA scan flags it for review.

Analogy: Like a security guard checking every lock and window in your house to find weak points.

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Penetration Testing (PT) ​

Goal: Simulate a real hacker attack to measure impact.
Method: Exploit vulnerabilities ethically.
Types of Pentesting:

• Black Box - no prior knowledge (real hacker style)
• White Box - full knowledge (source code, architecture)
• Gray Box - partial knowledge (balanced approach)

Example ​

If VA detects an SQL Injection, PT might try: ' OR '1'='1
to see if they can log in without a password.
Analogy: Like a burglar testing weak windows/doors to break into a house.

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VAPT Lifecycle ​

1. Planning & Scoping - Define targets & rules of engagement
2. Information Gathering (Recon) - Collect domains, IPs, services
3. Vulnerability Assessment - Automated + manual scanning
4. Exploitation (Pentest) - Attempt to exploit critical findings
5. Post-Exploitation - Assess attacker movement, privilege escalation, lateral moves
6. Reporting - Document findings, risk levels, and fixes
7. Remediation & Re-Test - Patch issues and verify fixes

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Risk Rating in VAPT ​

• Critical - Immediate exploitation (RCE, SQLi)
• High - Privilege escalation, XSS stealing cookies
• Medium - Information disclosure, weak SSL config
• Low - Missing headers, verbose errors

Helps companies prioritize which issues to fix first.

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Benefits of VAPT ​

• Identify weak points before hackers do
• Reduce financial and reputational loss
• Meet compliance standards (PCI-DSS, ISO, GDPR, HIPAA)
• Improve incident response and cyber resilience
• Build customer trust

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Real-World Example ​

Case: Healthcare Web Portal

• VA Result: Outdated CMS, missing patches, weak password policy
• PT Result: Exploited SQL Injection → accessed patient records

Without VAPT, attackers could have caused a major data breach + legal fines.

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Defence / Best Practices ​

• Schedule VAPT quarterly or after major updates
• Implement patch management
• Use WAF (Web Application Firewall) & IDS/IPS
• Follow secure coding practices (input validation, sanitization)
• Conduct Red Team vs Blue Team exercises
• Continuous monitoring with SIEM tools

Final Thought ​

VAPT isn’t just about scanning for bugs - it’s about thinking like a hacker to protect like a defender.
Organizations that ignore VAPT are basically leaving their doors wide open!